Captricity Team Members Frances Villar and Hesam Naghshbandi at Healthtech 2.0

Several important learnings come courtesy of James L. Madara, MD, CEO of the American Medical Association (AMA). Dr. Madera’s session title, “Snake Oil?!” calls back to a 2015 address to AMA delegates. The crux of those remarks warned of digital initiatives that add no value to patient care, or worse, make it more difficult.

In that address, he said, “More and more we’re seeing digital tools in medicine that, unlike digital tools in other industries, make the provision of care less, not more, efficient. And these digital tools often don’t connect with each other—interoperability remains a dream. We were told that interoperability was the future; we didn’t expect that it would always be in the future. The age of digital snake oil.”

The phrase digital snake oil also refers to digital tech developed without deep collaboration with the medical community. He welcomes digital platforms that improve workflows, and tools that deliver meaningful practice adjustments and allow physicians to spend quality time caring for patients.

The digital age has a great deal to offer healthcare, and Madara is clear about the most compelling reasons to develop innovative and workable technology that supports the medical community:

Physicians want to engage in digital health to improve workflows

According to a Dartmouth College study, 50% of a physician’s time is spent in data entry

Patients dislike limited interaction with their doctors, and less time in data entry can translate to more time spent with patient interaction

Digital health is merging quickly, and, in Madera’s words, “nobody wants to go back to paper.”

To be successful in today’s environment, you need a suite of solutions that can meet your organization where it’s at and help take it to the next level.